Samardzija pitches A’s to 8-2 win over Astros

Oakland Athletics’ Jeff Samardzija delivers a pitch against the Houston Astros in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 25, 2014, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan) more >

By KRISTIE RIEKEN -
Associated Press -
Tuesday, August 26, 2014

HOUSTON (AP) - Jeff Samardzija was determined to get back on track Monday night after a couple of bad starts, so he was thrilled to see Josh Donaldson back in the Oakland lineup.

Samardzija pitched eight solid innings and Donaldson drove in three runs after sitting out Sunday with a knee injury to lead the Athletics over the Houston Astros 8-2.

“I told him there’s no chance he’s not starting the day I pitch. So I’ll give him a massage on his knee if I have to, to get him in there,” Samardzija said, joking.

It didn’t come to that, but Donaldson acknowledged after the game he’s still feeling pretty banged up despite returning to the lineup.

“It’s not something I think about too much,” he said. “It’s just one of those things, 126 games now. You learn how to play with stuff.”

Samardzija (4-3) allowed six hits, two runs and tied a season high with 10 strikeouts to bounce back from a two-game skid in which he yielded 11 runs combined. The right-hander was 2-7 with the Chicago Cubs before getting traded in early July.

“I took that last one pretty personally and I wanted to come out and have a good one and get back into my groove and how I do things,” Samardzija said.

Josh Reddick hit a two-run homer and Donaldson had three hits. Donaldson doubled twice for his first extra-base hits and RBIs in his last nine games.

Reddick’s 10th home run sailed into the seats in right field to push Oakland’s lead to 3-0 in the fourth.

Chris Carter hit an opposite-field, two-run homer in the eighth to pull the Astros within one, but the A’s added five runs in the ninth to extend the lead to 8-2.

Houston manager Bo Porter was disappointed that his bullpen let a close game get away.

“Getting an opportunity to come up in the ninth inning of a one-run game is completely different than coming up down by six,” he said. “The whole object is to keep the game right there.”

The Astros couldn’t string anything together against Samardzija through the first seven innings. They didn’t have more than one hit in an inning until the eighth, when Jose Altuve singled before Carter’s homer.

Houston reliever Tony Sipp, who had allowed just 10 walks in his previous 41 innings, walked all four batters he faced in the ninth to push Oakland’s lead to 4-2. Donaldson’s bases-loaded double off Jose Veras sent two more home, and Derek Norris wrapped up the scoring with a two-run single.